Murkowski Slammed Over Filibuster Vote
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid finally went nuclear. Using a rare procedural move, Reid and a majority of Senators voted 52-48 to overhaul a filibuster rule which had largely worked for decades, but which Republicans had so abused since the beginning of the Obama administration, that judicial and cabinet appointments that once would have been routine, became dead in the water. The numbers speak for themselves. The vote was largely down party lines, with 3 Democrats breaking ranks. But at least one Republican we know, who had a history of supporting the concept of the up-or-down vote, cast her vote…
TPP 101 in Less than 4 Minutes. Go.
You’ve likely heard about the “TPP” in the news lately. You know it has 3 letters. You may even know that they stand for Trans Pacific Partnership. You may know that it’s considered a bad thing by the left, the right, and everyone in between. You may know it has something to do with trade… aaaand you may have gotten overwhelmed. Or you may be frustrated that other fairly engaged people seem not to know what it’s all about and why it matters. Here’s a great primer that takes less than four minutes, featuring Amy Goodman from Democracy Now interviewing…
Assemblyman Admits Back Room Shenanigans
Tuesday’s Anchorage Assembly meeting promised to be more interesting than usual, but no one was expecting the jaw-dropping admission of blatant politicking by a supporter of the Mayor on the Assembly, and that the peoples’ referendum to repeal a draconian labor ordinance was being set up as a casualty of electoral manipulation. The Anchorage Assembly passed its anti-union, anti-public-employee Ordinance 37 back in March of 2013 despite hours and hours of testimony against it. In fact, Chair Ernie Hall even cut off testimony with many still waiting for an opportunity to speak. That led to the filing of a petition to…
The GOP “Shut that whole thing down”
It’s official. The federal government has been shut down as of midnight, October 1. House Republicans decided they were so mad at voters, the law of the land, the Supreme Court, and the way the country works that they have thrown a stone in the gears. The Senate passed a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open, but the House responded by stomping their feet and passing a Continuing Resolution that guts women’s health care, and adds a special amendment to block contraceptive care. That’s right, it’s all because of lady parts. There are few things quite so scary…
Negotiating With Healthcare Terrorists
We’re just a few days from launch for critical portions of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Republicans in Washington, D.C., are so freaked out they’ve taken the economy hostage and threatened to shoot it. Conservatives with “support the troops” on their car bumpers have no problem cutting off paychecks to soldiers in a doomed bid to “protect” Americans from affordable health care. I’ll bet the list of things they want before they’ll agree to pay the nation’s debts was made by cutting words out of magazines and pasting them on a piece of paper. In case I’m being too subtle, this…
Gov Parnell Smacks Down Feds
Yesterday, a “Federal Overreach Summit” began in Anchorage. For two days, lawmakers and administration officials will gripe about the “feds” and what is described as intrusion into Alaska’s affairs. But the federal overreach discussed on the first day of the summit didn’t touch on Stand Your Ground law, or issues of reproductive choice, or gay marriage, or even voting rights which have been so much in the news as of late. This federal overreach is quite specific, and gets to the heart of what this administration considers important. It’s all about land use and resource extraction. A Department of Natural…
Alaska: Hand Out, Finger Up
The State of Alaska has one hand out palm up, and the other raised with one finger prominently extended — again. The upcoming “Federal Overreach Summit” to be held at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage seemed like a tea party function. I don’t have a yellow flag with a snake on it or a three-cornered hat, so I didn’t pay much mind. Until this week. An email found its way to me from a Department of Natural Resources employee. Karrie Improte signed an email announcing the “very interesting news; on page 1 there is an announcement on the Commission sponsored…
SCOTUS Sticks it to Alaskans
Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court of the United States decided on a 5-4 vote to gut the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has a central provision, Section 5, that requires some state and local governments, mostly in the South, and also in Alaska, to get permission from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes in their voting laws. Indeed, it was the Voting Rights Act that was at the heart of successful efforts to stop states attempting to cut back on early voting hours and instituting voter identification laws that would have dramatically affected minority…
Parnell’s Petty Party
The concept of letting someone else do all the work and then stealing the glory is reprehensible in general, but to the men and women who serve in the military, that violation of basic honor and integrity cuts close to the bone. So does using the men and women who serve our country as a partisan political backdrop, just because it looks good in a photo op. If you were on Facebook this week, you might have seen the following picture posted on Sen. Kevin Meyer’s page featuring Sean Parnell signing several bills affecting the military. But one in particular…
Parnell – Dug in Like a Tick
Well, I’m surprised. Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that he will run for governor again. “Fantastic! I get to vote for Sean Parnell as governor again!” said no one within earshot of me ever. The anticipation of his announcement, and the speculation around it, was fierce. Would he give Mark Begich a run for his money for the U.S. Senate? Would he figure his work was done, having succeeded in passing a bill to give billions to oil companies for no guarantees, and just start picking out wallpaper for a K Street office? He’s dug in like a tick. I…